Writer's life: an update and a ramble

This is a little update on what I'm up to with writing, work and life generally at the moment. If you come here to read book reviews and have absolutely no interest in me then please skip this post, I should have another book review up next week.

If, on the other hand, you read my book Highlanders' Revenge and enjoyed it, or you're a freelance writer too and want to know how a fellow one makes a living then read on, it'll be brief, I promise.

May 2017 Link Love

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The first half of May was mainly cold and grey, so I spent more time inside on the web than usual and discovered lots of book reviews, writing tips and random fashion and travel posts.
The sun did eventually come out and, like a true Brit I spent the rest of the time desperately roasting myself to the point of pinkness.

March 2017 Link Love

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Another month, another round-up of links I've been loving on the web. As usual, there are lots of book reviews from fellow book bloggers, including a couple of classics. I've also found some useful writing tips, especially if you're a budding children's book author.

Finally, I've got some random links, with everything from underground caves to inspiring women standing up against sexual violence.

February 2017 Link Love

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I think this month's Link Love post reflects my financial situation in February; completely broke. Even the Writing links join in, with a post on keeping your day job even when published. There's also an article on a woman who saved £22,000 a year by buying nothing but the essentials.
Don't worry though, I'm still obsessed with books, and I've found some great reviews and reading lists around the web this month. Books count as essentials, right?

January 2017 Link Love

My first Link Love post of the New Year. I don't know about you but January has really dragged for me, I know it's a cliche to hate January but this one has been rather dull and dismal. Although it has been punctuated with a few bright frosty days which make the twice-a-day dog walks bearable.

However, though January has been very Januaryish, there have been a lot of great things on the web, probably because content makers know that everyone's going to be staying in staring at their phones.

I've deliberately left out a lot of bloggers' resolutions and aims posts for 2017, I'm sorry but after twenty or so they become rather repetitive. Instead I've got some excellent book reviews on new releases and older classics, some great writing tips and a lot of randomness, including satirical comedy and lipstick.

December 2016 Link Love

December has mainly been a month of slobbing for me, a lot of sitting on my butt and reading crap on the internet so there are quite a few links in my link love post for December. I think most of them will interest you though (hopefully), there are lots of book bloggers and posts, some writing tips and then just a whole load of random crap. Enjoy!

November 2016: Link Love

This is my second Link Love post. I'm really enjoying putting this monthly feature together, partly selfishly for me as it's a chance to gather all the things I've been loving on the web, but I also hope it'll interest other people and shine a light on other bloggers/writers/brands/people that I enjoy.

October 2016: Link Love

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This is a new monthly post featuring, you guessed it, links that I love. I know it's a little late for October's post, now being well into November, but I've been spectacularly unorganised as usual.

Each month I'll bring a round up of what I've been enjoying on the web, including books and writing related links as well as a few random favourites.

Highlanders' Revenge: Win or Review

Happy Halloween! This post is not Halloween related at all but is in fact me rambling on about my own book for a bit, I'll try and keep it short and sweet.

(If you are in the mood for a scary read then check out my 6 Horror Books to Read for Halloween.)

I just wanted to write a quick post to let you know a few new things that are happening with my novel Highlanders' Revenge. You can read more about the book here, but in brief; I co-wrote a World War Two fictional novel with my uncle under the pseudonym Paul Tors. It was published by Troubador and is available to buy as paperback or ebook on Amazon or through the publisher.
We've got some great feedback so far and are feeling really thankful to everyone who's bought and read it.
We've got a couple of exciting things happening too.

News...

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while but I've been ridiculously busy. Part of the business has to do with this post. I've been wanting to post about this for a while and I finally can because everything is finished and ready to go in a week's time.

Enough being elusive, here's my news...

I've written a book!

Well actually I've co-written a book. Highlanders' Revenge by Paul Tors is being published by Matador Publishing and will be released on Thursday 28th July.

It was written by myself and my uncle, Paul Richman, hence the name Paul Tors (Tors is my nickname).

We have a website with more information here.

Writing Life: Felixstowe's Ferry Boat Inn

Restaurant Reviewing for the East Anglian Daily Times

I'm quite lucky that in my work for my local newspaper, the East Anglian Daily Times (EADT), I quite often get to review restaurants. I'm a freelancer so generally the other members of my team get to do regular reviews but I occasionally get thrown a bone and get to choose from the seemingly unending list of restaurants, pubs and cafes that are up for review.

I know this is basically a big boast, sorry about that, it is one of the major perks of my job (another was getting sent free jam and salted caramel spread from Tiptree for writing an article about them, that was a dream). However, it is sometimes a bit daunting, if the restaurant organises it it's fine as they know what's going on, but quite often I find myself calling a restaurant and asking them to give me a free three course meal for two. Luckily I haven't been laughed away yet or told where to go. The EADT is pretty well known in these parts and a good review often gets more people through the door.

Look at me I'm showing off again.